


World's End

by CJ_fics



Series: World's End [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Introspective Oliver, References to Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-10 11:56:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4390967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CJ_fics/pseuds/CJ_fics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver and Felicity are at World's End and they decide to stop.</p>
            </blockquote>





	World's End

They’re at World’s End when they decide to stop.

It started off as a flippant question from Felicity as they entered the reservation park in Hingham, Massachusetts.

“What will we do after World’s End?” Felicity had asked, and then proceeded to answer her own question with, “Well, after walking the trail, I’ll probably be hungry. So, food, for sure. Then I’ll be tired, so we need to check in at our B&B. Then maybe some frick-frack after a nap.” She had wiggled her eyebrows at him saucily as she said ’frick-frack’ and he had gotten so distracted by that idea that he temporarily forgot to panic at the thought of their world ending.

He loved the world that he and Felicity had created for themselves these past several weeks. They had driven across the continental United States randomly, staying at hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, and rental apartments. Never staying in a place for more than a week. Enjoying the culinary offerings of each town and city they’ve passed through. Getting to know each other in a way that can only happen when two people have all the time in the world. Building an intimacy with each other – physical, emotional, sometimes even, spiritual – that neither of them had ever shared with anyone else in their lives.

For the first time in eight years, Oliver could just take things one day at a time. He didn’t have to think about the traps he’d set all over Lian Yu and what they had caught for his meal the next day. He didn’t have to be anxious about how to escape from under Waller’s control, or worry himself sick about the repercussions of his newly-acquired ‘skills’ on his soul. He didn’t have to obsess about the thought of going home – some days with a hopeful wish that he would make it in time to fix everything he had broken; most of the days, with dread at the weight of the mission his father had thrust upon him. He didn’t have to plan how to target the next name on his father’s list. He didn’t have to be one step ahead of Malcolm Merlyn, Slade Wilson, Ra’s Al Ghul, Amanda Waller, even his own mother.

The freedom he was enjoying these past several weeks with Felicity was unlike the freedom he had lived with before Lian Yu, Oliver knew that. His freedom in his childhood and teens were brought about by the fact that he was Ollie Queen, billionaires’ son, who faltered and rebelled about what that meant, who didn’t care for the consequences of his actions, who could do anything and anyone he wanted because he knew he could always rest on being Ollie Queen, billionaires’ son.

Being with Felicity made him realise that the freedom he thought he had before Lian Yu was not really freedom, but rebellion from the pressures of being who he was. For all his material freedom in the past, he could never have escaped the eventual end-game expected of him: take over Queen Consolidated, marry a respectable woman (maybe, Laurel, she was prepped for it), continue to put money in his family’s coffers, have a kid or two, keep a few mistresses on hand, and become his parents. He was 'allowed’ that freedom, he was allowed to get away with his actions, because Moira and Robert knew that it was temporary. They had so much control over Oliver, and the material freedoms he enjoyed, that they knew at the threat of taking away the world available to him, Oliver would cede his freedom and become what they expected of him.

Now, while he still enjoys a lesser version of his old material freedom, he knew that he was really free. The only expectations he allowed to bound his freedom was the one he put on himself, and the idea of never, ever, ever making Felicity sad, mad and disappointed in him. He was free because he shared his freedom with Felicity, and she made him feel safe, protected and loved. He was free because he allowed himself to keep safe, protect and love Felicity Smoak. He was free because he earned it with his sweat, blood and tears.

This freedom was a reward he allowed himself, not something that was given to him.

And he enjoyed the world this true freedom afforded him. To stay in bed for days on end with one Felicity Smoak was gift he had never thought he could ever deserve, and therefore, would never take for granted. To drive with Felicity’s hand in his, or his hand on her knee, or her hand on his, was the universe of his dreams. To get to know Felicity – from how she looked, acted and behaved upon waking up, to the stories of her childhood and MIT days, to the expression on her face as she eats something delicious, to her stance as she decides what to wear for the day, to the intimate sounds she makes when they’re making love, to her beauty rituals, to her grumpy days, to the things he still wonders about her – that’s a freedom he vowed to endeavour to keep allowing himself. To allow Felicity to get to know him, though a bit more difficult, was fact of this new world they’re building for themselves. A fact that he enjoyed despite his reticence.

He was beginning to realise now, as they explore World’s End reservation park, that perhaps there was more to freedom than the world he and Felicity have been creating for themselves since they drove off together away from Starling City. Perhaps freedom was not just about constantly being on the move, no plan or final destination in sight.

In the stillness of the World’s End on an early Wednesday, Oliver began to think that true freedom may also mean standing still with the person you loved and liked the most. That it might be about building roots with the person you loved and liked the most.

And for him that was Felicity Smoak.

Who was now looking at him worriedly.

“What?” Oliver asks.

They had been walking for about two hours now, randomly meandering around the World’s End park, enjoying the view and the nature all around them. They shared a comfortable silence as they breathed in the natural air and marveled at the beauty of the trees and flowers around them. Their conversation sparse, peppered with anecdotes from Felicity’s MIT days (being in New England really brought out her MIT nostalgia).

“What?” Felicity responds, “I should be asking you that. You’ve been very quiet.”

“Well, so have you,” Oliver teases, drawing her closer to him, “Well, quieter than usual.”

Felicity chuckles and hits him playfully on the chest, “Hey!”

“You must be hungry,” he says, half-joking, “You’re only this quiet when you’re hungry.”

Felicity rolls her eyes at him, and retorts, “Don’t think that just because you’re being very cute right now, that I don’t know that something is up with you, Oliver Queen.”

He reaches to cup her face in his hands to peck her lips, in time to, “I. Am. Not. Cute.”

She responds with her own set of kisses, “Yes. You. Are. But. We’ll. Keep. It. A. Secret.”

He laughs and hugs her closer to him, moving his right hand to her nape to pull her to her tippy-toes so he can kiss her deeply.

“I love you,” he sighs against her lips as the emerge from their kiss.

“And, I love you,” she smiles against his.

She pulls away, catching his hand to hold in hers as she moves to continue their walk along the path.

“What will happen after world’s end?” he asks, staying still.

“Well, food, then B&B, then nap, then frick-frack,” Felicity responds lightly, turning back and stepping closer to him.

“Do you want something more than this?” he asks hesitantly.

“More than what?” Felicity frowns.

“More than driving for days on end, and ending up where we end up. More than shacking up in different hotels. More than wandering around the country,” he clarifies, then continues, “I wondered, if there was more than this.”

“Do you want more than this?” Felicity asks, gulping visibly and looking down, “Is this is not enough?”

Oliver pulls her closer, holding both of her hands now, knowing that his questions had the potential to bring up some of Felicity’s imagined internal inadequacies and her worries about their relationship. He didn’t want her to think that they were not enough. They were more than enough for him. Infinitely more than enough.

“Hey, hey,” he murmurs, bringing his right hand clasped around her left hand up to tilt her chin up so he could look her in the eyes, “This is more than enough. More than what I could have possibly imagined for myself. This is the dream. You are the dream turned reality.”

“Then, what?”

“I was thinking about freedom – true freedom,” he starts, “Before, I thought it was about doing whatever I wanted, knowing that there were no real consequences. My parents would pay, literally, for any of the consequences, and then when I reached the proper age, I would still have to agree to their expectations of me. So, that’s wasn’t really true freedom. Then I had my freedom taken away from me – Lian Yu, Hong Kong, Russia, my father’s list, the Arrow … I realised that my first taste of true freedom was when I drove away with you a few weeks ago.”

Felicity smiles at him in empathy, “I know.”

“I realised just now, because you said the words, 'worlds end’, that I didn’t want this world to end,” he says, “Our world. The one where we get to drive aimlessly and be mobile and not stay in one place for more than a week. The one where we get to stay in bed all day, if feel like it. The one where we can do whatever we want.”

“I don’t want our world to end either, Oliver,” Felicity whispers back.

“Then, I realised, it’s not those things that I’m afraid of ending,” he responds, “Because our world is not about those things. The world I don’t want to ever end is the one where I get to be with you. The one where I get to kiss you whenever I want. The one where I get to know you, and allow you to know me. The one where we get to love each other in ways that we have never loved anyone before. The driving, the aimlessness, the no plans, that’s not true freedom. Not really.”

“Do you want to stop?”

“I don’t know, maybe. I don’t ever want to stop being with you though,” he says.

“Do you want to go back to Starling?”

“Hmm, maybe someday. Maybe for a visit. There’s too many ghosts there,” he admits, “Do you? Want to stop? Want to go back to Starling?”

Felicity doesn’t respond, just looks him in the eye. Oliver can see that she’s deep in thought.

“Felicity? If you want to continue, of course, I want to continue!” Oliver says urgently, “I’m not saying that we have to think about these things now. I –”

“I want to stay with you,” Felicity finally says, “Let’s get that straight first. That’s non-negotiable. We stay together, OK?”

“OK,” Oliver breathes a sigh of relief, “More than OK.”

“I mean, eventually, I know we would have to stop. Money is a finite matter. Or eventually, we might get too old to fit into the Porsche,” she continues, “But I didn’t want to think about that. Because I didn’t know what stopping meant for us.”

“Stopping won’t end us, Felicity,” Oliver vows, “Unless you want us to.”

Felicity rolls her eyes at him, showing him how silly she thinks he’s being, thinking that she would ever want them to end.

“So?” Oliver prods.

“So, we stop when we feel like stopping,” Felicity concludes, “That’s the decision we’re making here today, right now, right?”

“Yes.”

“OK,” she murmurs, then adds hesitantly, “But, I think I would want to build roots somewhere. Anywhere. With you. Set up shop somewhere. Use my hard-earned, expensive college and post-grad degree somewhere, somehow. Build a house. Do you think you would want that someday, too?”

“Yes, I would like that,” Oliver smiles, marveling at how in tune they always are. Building roots, indeed. “So long as it’s with you.”

She smiles at him happily and then reaches up to bring his head down to hers to seal the deal with a kiss.

Minutes later, as they continue walking around the park, Felicity pipes up, “It’s so you to think about stopping when we’re at World’s End.”

Oliver laughs, shaking his head at her, “Does that make me poetic or something mushy like that?”

Felicity snorts and then wraps her arms around his torso, then grins cheekily at him, “Or something mushy like that.”

——————-

Two weeks later, they find a cottage by the coast of Duxbury Bay that’s the perfect stopping point for them. There, they build.

/end

**Author's Note:**

> Original post: http://outoftheclosetshipper.tumblr.com/post/122504240108/mtv-nominee-3-of-6-like-or-reblog-this-post-to


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